Mumbai: Horrific accident on Marine Drive; 18-year-old son of hotelier killed, friend hurt

 An 18-year-old son of a hotelier was killed and his friend suffered serious injuries when their speeding car collided with a stationary bus at Marine Drive in South Mumbai. The incident took place at 4:30 pm on Tuesday.

The mishap occurred on SN Road near BD Somani Chowk, nearly 100 metres before the Marine Drive flyover as the car was en route to Chowpatty. There is no clarity on why the teenagers had gone to Marine Drive during the lockdown.

Aryaman Nagpal, the son of Rajesh Nagpal (part-owner of Taj Group of Hotels), was rushed to Sir HN Reliance Foundation Hospital and Research Centre where he succumbed to his injuries. Shouryasingh Sharad Jain is undergoing treatment at the Harikishandas Hospital. As per The Times of India, Jain was behind the wheel.

Domio Develops Apart-Hotel Industry's Most Comprehensive Cleaning Program

Domio, the apart-hotel hospitality company, unveiled its new Domio Difference program outlining industry leading guest experience enhancements to provide guests with peace of mind while they relax in the comfort of home and confidence of a hotel during their Domio stay. The Domio Difference program outlines a series of innovative guest-facing technology combined with enhanced cleaning measures and health amenities to provide guests with assurance of safety and security during their stay

The Domio team developed the cleaning portion of its new program with guidance provided by the CDC, EPA, WHO and leading cleaning chemical manufacturers including Ecolab to formulate its new 100-point cleaning process. Additionally, all Domio guests will be provided with in-room face masks and disinfectant wipes.

While certain technology improvements such as keyless entry and mobile check-in and check-out were already under development by the Domio team as part of its long-term vision of inserting leading technology into hospitality to create frictionless guest experiences, the thrust of the Domio Difference cleaning enhancements were fast-tracked as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic

The Domio Difference program highlights, include:

• In-Unit Health Kit: Guests will be provided with complimentary face masks and disinfecting wipes in each Domio apart-hotel unit.

• 100-point CDC Compliant Apart-Hotel Cleaning: Domio has developed a 100-point checklist inspired by CDC research to ensure clean room stays.

• Contactless Check-In and Check-Out: Domio guests can now check-in and check-out via Domio’s mobile app, enabling guests to bypass the front desk if they so choose.

• Keyless Entry: Domio’s proprietary technology enables guests to use their mobile device to unlock their apart-hotel removing the need to use a key or keycard.

• Voice-Enabled Assistant: Designed specifically for our apart-hotel guests, our in-room voice-enabled Angie units provide guests with a touchless interface for communication.

• Focus on Fitness Centers: Improved guidelines for disinfecting the hotel Fitness Center, closing for cleaning multiple times daily and limiting the number of guests allowed in at one time.

• 80-point CDC Compliant Public Area Cleaning: Increased frequency and detailed checklist inspired by CDC research along with social distancing.

• Employee PPE: Rest comfortably knowing all employees will be provided masks, gloves and other PPE to ensure your well-being.

Solay Mobile App Provides Social Distancing Technology For Resort Pools & Beaches

Resort Technologies, LLC, proudly announces the iOS initial release of its mobile technology solution, Solay, available now for download in the App Store. The Solay Mobile App provides Resorts & Hotels with a free inventory management system to set up overnight guests with reserved seats placed 6 feet apart at pools and beaches. Offering a contactless solution to maintain social distancing, Resorts & Hotels utilizing Solay contribute to a safer return to travel and experience greater ease in adhering to COVID-19 guidelines.

The Solay Mobile App is a seating reservation tool used by overnight guests that generates real time information to Hotels & Resorts. Solay utilizes customized property information and seating maps, organizing the logistics of social distancing among Hotel & Resort registered guests when they enjoy pools and beaches. Solay has a no contact reservation and check-in process on each user’s individual iPhone and does not require any other integrations or property technology solutions. As an effective way to manage vacation experiences through the challenges of COVID-19, the Solay service will promote reassurance and increase confidence of guests vacationing at Hotels & Resorts.

Resort & Hotel Management staff can re-open with peace of mind knowing Solay provides a cost-free system to support property and guest needs alike at pools and beaches without the uncertainty of a first come, first served model.

Solay is also proud to announce all user fees are currently waived to help support hospitality and encourage vacationers to enjoy leisure time again. The Solay Mobile App was established to allow the pure essence of the word “vacation” to be embodied in the guest experience. Solay, a better experience for all.

Solay is now available for free download in the iOS App Store. Android is planned for release in Q1 of 2021 along with development of additional features.

More information can be found online at http://www.solayapp.com

Attracting Travelers After COVID-19

As states and countries relax their restrictions on quarantine and social distancing, airlines and hotels will likely start offering generous discounts in order to generate demand and entice travelers back out into the world beyond their front doorstep.

A major step towards recovery in this segment is likely to come when larger corporations relax business travel restrictions, and other smaller companies follow suit. It is estimated that 5-10% of business travel may be eliminated permanently due to reduced travel budgets, business closure, unemployment, and the growth of online meetings.

 A survey conducted by LuggageHero, indicated that 58% of Americans are planning to travel between May and September 2020, as long as their destinations aren't in quarantine.

Some analysts predict that air travel will not return to full strength until at least mid-2021 which means that leisure travelers are more likely to be taking staycations or car trips to surrounding states.

2020 may bring the re-birth of the road trip and hotels should pay particular attention to their drive markets as the likelihood is this segment is going to be the most likely to celebrate their post-quarantine freedom by taking a short trip within 2-3 hours' drive.

For these reasons, along with continued fear around the pandemic, leisure travel may recover at a slower pace and only recover to previous levels once a vaccine is developed.

The best way to manage your segmentation mix is to take a data first approach. Segment towards drive markets and test what works before expanding your reach and media spend. Also try to understand in-bound travel data as an indicator of where guests are arriving from and choose to target those areas first.

Top Ten Largest Travel and Tourism Businesses

The travel and tourism industry was thriving through the end of 2018, making it the eighth straight year of sustained industry growth. More than 1.4 billion people arrived at international ports around the world

 In 2019, the United Nations World Tourism Organization estimated that one out of every ten jobs globally was linked to the travel and tourism industry.

This growth trend was projected to continue through 2022 until Covid-19 changed everything.To get an overview of what the Travel and Tourism industry looked like before this unprecedented disruption, we’ve compiled a list of the top 10 Largest Travel and Tourism Businesses in the World, arranged in order of 2018 total revenue. Two of the ten on our list are family-owned.

10. Travel Leaders Group

Country of Origin: USA

Revenue: 7.12 billion

Number of Employees: 4,000

Founded in 2008 and headquartered in New York, Travel Leaders Group is a relatively new company that caters primarily to upscale and corporate clientele. 

In 2018, 71 per cent of revenue came from business travel, 25 per cent came from leisure travel, while four per cent came from other categories. Its network of hosted agents generated approximately $436.6 million in sales. Recent estimations suggest more than a third of all agents in North America work under the Travel Leaders Group umbrella either directly or indirectly

9. Royal Caribbean Cruises

Country of Origin: USA

Revenue: 9.49 billion

Number of Employees: 77,000

Royal Caribbean Cruises is one of just two cruise lines to make our list of top tourism businesses in the world. Founded in 1968 in Miami as Royal Caribbean International, the business has grown to become the world’s second-largest cruise line.

8. Walt Disney Parks, Resorts & Leisure

Country of Origin: USA

Revenue: 20.29 billion

No of Employees: 170,000

Disney Park’s 2018 total of $20.29 billion marks its ninth straight year of increases and nearly doubles the 2009 total of $10.67. Disney’s most attended Park is the Magic Kingdom in Florida with just under 21 million visitors in 2018

In total, Disney boasts six resort destinations with 12 theme parks and 53 resorts in the United States, Europe, and Asia. They also run a successful cruise line with four ships and plans for three more to be completed in 2021, 2022, and 2023.

7. Carnival Corporation & PLC

Country of Origin: USA

Revenue: 20.83 billion

Number of Employees: 120,000

Carnival Corporation & PLC holds the distinction of being the world’s largest leisure cruise line with a combined fleet of 102 ships visiting more than 700 ports all around the world. Carnival is a family-owned business

These cruise lines attract nearly 11.5 million guests annually – approximately half of the total global cruise market. With 225,000 daily cruise guests and 100,000 shipboard employees, an estimated 325,000+ people are sailing aboard the Carnival Corporation fleet every single day.

6. Flight Centre Travel Group

Country of Origin: Australia

Revenue: 21.8 billion

Number of Employees: 20,600

Flight Centre Travel Group was founded in Sydney in 1982 and currently stands as the largest retail travel agency in Australia

In 2018, Flight Centre Travel Group sold travel valued at approximately $60 million every day.  Flight Centre travel group is currently headquartered in Brisbane. It operates more than 2,800 retail outlets in Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Hong Kong, India, China, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates and Mexico with licence agreements in another 80 countries.

5. CWT

Country of Origin: USA

Revenue: 25 billion

Number of Employees: 18,000

CWT is a Minnesota-based, family-controlled travel management company perhaps best known by its former name Carlson Wagonlit Travel, which was rebranded as CWT in February 2019

4. BCD Travel

Country of Origin: Netherlands

Revenue: 27.1 billion

Number of Employees: 13,800

BCD Travel is a travel management company headquartered in Atlanta but is a subsidiary of the BCD Group located in the Netherlands. BCD Travel operates travel management services such as travel bookings, consulting and meetings and events in 109 countries around the world

3. Global Business Travel

Country of Origin: Netherlands

Unit Sales: 33.7 billion

No of Employees: 17,400

Initially American Express Global Business Travel, GBT is a world leader in business travel planning and management. The business is incorporated in the Netherlands but is headquartered out of New Jersey.

In 2018, Global Business Travel acquired Hogg Robinson Group, a travel company with roots that trace back to the 19th Century.

2. Booking Holdings

Country of Origin: USA

Revenue: 92.7 billion

Number of Employees: 24,500

Booking Holdings is one of the largest online search and booking platforms for flights, lodging, dining, car rentals and other travel-related services.

In 2017, travellers booked 673.1 million room nights of accommodation, 73.0 million rental car days, and 6.9 million aeroplane tickets using websites owned by Booking Holdings. That year, 93.4 per cent Booking Holdings’ revenues were from commissions, while 6.6 per cent of revenues came from advertising.

1. Expedia Group

Country of Origin:USA

2018 Revenue: 99 billion

Number of Employees: 24,000

One of the most recognisable brand names in the tourism industry fell just short of $100 billion in total revenue to top our list of tourism businesses. The Expedia Group provides an online platform for various travel-related needs  In 2018, the business changed its corporate name from Expedia, Inc. to Expedia Group, Inc.

Just under 69 per cent of Expedia Group’s 2018 revenue came from lodging, 8 per cent from airline bookings, 9.7 per cent from advertising and media, and 13 per cent from other sources.

MasterChef Spain Contestant Kicked Out For Serving Up Dead Bird To Judges

Contestants on the show, which has different national editions all over the world, constantly work to create culinary masterpieces that make viewers at home salivate until they nearly drown.

Regardless of their speciality outside the series, each episode sees the chefs provided with all sorts of ingredients and they have to work with whatever they're given.

However, it seems like one challenge was seemingly too difficult for one competitor.

According to News Corp, Saray was uncomfortable with defeathering a bird for the Spanish series' latest episode. As a result, she said a big 'FU' to the judges and served up an uncooked, unplucked partridge

Look, she gave it a go in terms of presentation. She covered the bird in some cherry tomatoes and a nice looking sauce. Obviously it's still not edible but hey, you can't knock a good bit of presentation

The judges and other competitors looked genuinely shocked with one saying: "This is never seen in MasterChef."

She was also feeling a little discontented on the show, having claimed some of the previous critiques she had received in other rounds were unfair or harsh. After getting a much bigger spray from the judges, she waved them goodbye and left the competition.

Karnataka permits bars, clubs to sell liquor at MRP

The move by the Karnataka government is part of its plans to shore up revenues from excise and help the cash-starved state in its battle against COVID-19 and the economic uncertainty that shrouds it.

The notification by the excise department says that establishments with cl-4 (clubs), cl-7 (hotels and boarding houses) and cl-9 (bars and restaurants) outside containment zones and malls or shopping complexes be allowed to resume sales to ensure its stock like beer does not expire and add to their losses.

The excise department notification comes at a time when the B.S. Yediyurappa-led state government has eased lockdown restrictions in most parts of Karnataka including Bengaluru, its growth engine, that has been classified as a red zone.He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should declare Covid-19 as a national disaster and that Yediyurappa should demand a ₹50,000 crore special package for Karnataka.

With taps from the centre drying up, Karnataka has already increased excise prices by 17-25% (depending on slabs) that would help raise at least ₹2,000 crores. The state had set a fiscal target of ₹22,700 crore for the current year and has been clocking high sales ,when liquor sales started in the state.

Manu Chandra, the head of the Bengaluru chapter of the National Restaurants Association of India (NRAI) says that selling liquor at MRP would deplete the investments of such establishments.

The liquor that we have in our stores right now is essentially capital or investment that’s lying with us which whenever we open we may be able to sell at whatever margins we used to

He adds that owners of these restaurants pay a higher renewal fee and the MRP model would hit its “economics for a six".

He says that the lockdown happened at the end of March and much of the stocks had depleted with restaurants normally waiting till the beginning of April to replenish. He says that not everyone in the business may be able to sustain this model and may write to the excise department to stop liquor sales and only keep the kitchen open.

American Airlines, Hyatt Hotels offer free vacations to NYC healthcare workers after pandemic

New York City healthcare workers on the frontline of the coronavirus battle are being treated to complimentary vacations courtesy of American Airlines and Hyatt hotels.

More than 4,000 employees at NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst in Queens will get three-day trips to a variety of destinations in the U.S. and the Caribbean once COVID-19 subsides and they're able to take time off.

Doctors, nurses, physician assistants and even food-service workers are among those receiving the thank-you gift.

“We are extremely grateful to Hyatt and American Airlines for this generous gift to our healthcare workers, who have been at the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Israel Rocha, the CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals' Elmhurst facility, said in a news release. “Our doctors, nurses, and other staff on the front lines of this unprecedented healthcare crisis really appreciate the outpouring of support from two of America’s major companies, and we look forward to taking advantage of these well-earned vacations in the near future.”

Case on Marriott for running a cafe during lockdown

A case has been registered against the director of JW Marriott on SB Road, following a report published in Mirror about how this plush hotel was running its cafe, violating lockdown norms in the process. The outlet was entertaining customers from different parts of the city, with many people huddling n a table without masks; thus, butchering the prescribed social distancing regulations.

Cops have said that they had received complaints about JW Marriott from two to three people. The Mirror report prompted them to take the issue in all seriousness. The officers checked the CCTV footage of the hotel, wherein different patrons were seen entering and exiting the premises at different patrons were seen entering and exiting the premises at different times. Cops had also found more than five people sitting at a table.

According to the rule, the hotel can serve only 30 customers who have been staying at the facility.Case has been registered against the hotel director.

Verma has been booked in accordance with section 3 of the Epidemic diseases Act, 1897, section 51 (1) (b) of the National Disaster Management Act, 2005, and the Maharashtra COVID-19 Rules, 2020.

A case has also been registered under Indian Panel Code sections 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 269 (negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) and 270 (malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life). 

Belgian Chefs lay down jackets to protest at lockdown

Hundreds of chefs’ jackets were laid down in the center of Brussels to highlight the plight of hotels, restaurants and cafes that have been shuttered for nearly two months during the coronavirus outbreak.

The whites, separated by a stripe of black kitchen tops, were displayed in neat rows to resemble a cemetery in the ornate central Grand Place square.

Coralie Michiels, one of the organizers of the protest, said the action was partly to show the scale of the hotel, restaurant and cafe sector - providing a livelihood for 10% of Belgium’s 11.5 million people and contributing 18 billion euros ($19.4 billion) a year to the economy.

Belgium has begun easing its lockdown, bars and restaurants will stay closed at least until June, having shut their doors in mid-March.

Shanghai Disneyland tickets sell out as park prepares to re-open after coronavirus crisis

Tickets for the earliest days of Shanghai Disneyland's re-opening in China sold out rapidly according to the park's website, as it prepares to next week end a three-month shutdown because of the coronavirus outbreak.

Tickets for Monday, May 11, the first day the park will welcome guests again, through May 14 were no longer available on the park's online booking service. They also sold out for the weekend dates of May 16 and 17. Chinese third-party ticket vendor Fliggy and MeiTuan also confirmed that their allotted tickets for re-opening day had sold out. According to Fliggy, the platform's tickets for May 11 and May 16 sold out within three minutes.

Follow live developments on the coronavirus pandemic here

Shanghai Disneyland first shut down on Jan 25, as public venues across China closed to comply with social distancing regulations. Disney later closed its other resorts worldwide as the coronnavirus spread. In an earnings call, executives said that shuttered parks would cost the company roughly $1 billion in profits.

In March, Disney re-opened some dining and shopping attractions at its Shanghai site, though its main theme park has remained closed. The Chinese government has asked Disney to cap attendance of the re-opened park at 30% of capacity, or roughly 24,000 people, Disney CEO Bob Chapek said .

Disney will restart operations with "far below" that number for a few weeks while it adjusts to new safeguards including social distancing, masks and temperature screenings for visitors and employees, he said.

#Logout 2.0: NRAI proposes jointly-owned food delivery platform

What seemed like a compromise between restaurants and aggregators after the much-publicised ‘#logout’ movement last year has turned out to be a temporary truce. Restaurants are gearing up to launch a food delivery platform that will have common ownership and will cater to all the players in the sector.

“Food aggregators have become the digital landlords for us, where we don’t even own that space and are heavily dependent on them for our customer loyalty,” said Thomas Fenn, Co-Founder of Mahabelly Restaurants at a town hall organised by NRAI.

On August 14, 2019, the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) had announced the ‘#logout’ movement to remove the distortion created by food aggregators through huge discounting.

"Aggregators have distorted a vibrant marketplace by aggressive discounting and predatory pricing," NRAI had said in a statement, last year. While the logout movement had just created a social media buzz, the current scenario due to Covid-19 has cemented the belief among restaurant owners that the industry needs to take back the control.

He mentioned that food aggregators have not made profits in the last seven years. “In the last five years, the commission charged by the aggregators have gone up from 6% to 24%. All these models have helped in driving their valuation than us,” Fenn added.

To overcome the delivery cost, NRAI has nudged restaurants to work in tandem with delivery vendors to utilise their existing fleet. With an array of new technology platforms like Dunzo and Delhivery, restaurants expect to strip down the delivery cost. The model proposed by the industry association is not without precedence. The restaurant association in Dubai has started working on its own digital platform which is likely to help restaurants reduce commissions by up to 26%.

Hotels and Restaurants in Gujarat want 6-month tax holiday

The Hotels and Restaurants Association (HRA) of Gujarat has sought a six-month tax holiday from the state government, over losses incurred by the tourism and hospitality sector due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In a representation made to the state government recently, HRA Gujarat said the hospitality sector is reeling from a severe working capital crunch.

The hospitality sector needs a lot of working capital which has taken a 90% hit. Paying GST and advance taxes, excise, licences fees, property tax and electricity duty will be extremely difficult. Moreover, several hoteliers had taken loans to construct and run establishments and in such times, timely payment of EMIs will be difficult

The association has sought a tax holiday from GST payments up to March 31, 2021. They have sought that the interest subsidy given to new hotels be extended to existing ones as well. The association also sought an electricity duty waiver for one year. The property tax for 2020-21 should be completely waived while that for 2021-22 should be cut by 50%
The association has also sought a complete waiver of VAT on gas charges.

U.S. Leisure and Hospitality Industy Lost 8.2 Million Jobs in 2 Months

The U.S. leisure and hospitality industry in April lost 7.7 million jobs, a 47 percent drop, and was the worst-hit sector among non-farm payrolls for the second month in a row, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics

April was the first full month where the coronavirus pandemic raged in the United States. The job losses come on top of half a million jobs lost in leisure and hospitality in March.

It was food and drinking establishments, rather than hotels, that were most-impacted in April. The bureau stated that restaurants and bars lost 5.5 million jobs in April, or 71 percent of the total decline in leisure and hospitality employment.

The April job loss in leisure and hospitality was more than three times greater than the second-most-impacted sector, education and health services, which saw a decline of 2.54 million jobs.

The two-month employment drop, including March and April, reached 8.2 million in leisure and hospitality. Some 459,000 jobs were lost in leisure and hospitality in March, versus February, as the coronavirus pandemic began to take its toll. As in April, dining establishments and bars took the brunt of the hit.

In late April, the U.S. Travel Association and Tourism Economics projected that the coronavirus pandemic would lead to the loss of 8 million jobs out of a total of 24 million in the U.S. economy. 

An artificial 'tongue' of gold to taste maple syrup

The new method—a kind of artificial tongue—is validated in a study published today in Analytical Methods, the journal of the Royal Society of Chemistry, in the United Kingdom.

The "tongue" is a colorimetric test that detects changes in colour to show how a sample of maple syrup tastes. The result is visible to the naked eye in a matter of seconds and is useful to producers.

1,818 samples tested

The artificial tongue was validated by analyzing 1,818 samples of maple syrup from different regions of Quebec. The syrups that were analyzed represented the various known aromatic profiles and colours of syrup, from golden to dark brown.

"We designed the 'tongue' at the request of the Quebec Maple Syrup Producers to detect the presence of different flavour profiles," explained Simon Forest, the study's first author. "The tool takes into account the product's olfactory and taste properties."

Maple syrup has a molecular complexity similar to that of wine. Its taste is delicate, without bitterness, and it has a subtle aroma. During the production process, specialized human tasters are employed to judge which profile each batch fits into.

Red for the best, blue for the rest

The researchers compare the artificial tongue to a pH test for a swimming pool. You simply pour a few drops of syrup into the gold nanoparticle reagent and wait about 10 seconds.

If the result stays in the red spectrum, it has the characteristics of a premium quality syrup, the kind best loved by consumers and sold in grocery stores or exported.

If, on the other hand, the test turns blue, the syrup may have a flavour "defect", which may be treated as an industrial syrup for use in processing.

60 categories of taste

Caramelized, woody, green, smoked, salty, burnt—the taste of maple syrup has as many as 60 categories to fit into. Maple syrup is essentially a concentrated sugar solution of 66 per cent sucrose and 33 per cent water; the remaining one per cent of other compounds determines the taste.

Too much variation in temperature over a weekend, for instance, can greatly affect the taste profile of the product.

The artificial tongue developed at UdeM could someday be adapted for tasting wine or fruit juice, Masson said, as well as be useful in a number of other agrifood contexts.

"High-throughput plasmonic tongue using an aggregation assay and nonspecific interactions: classification of taste profiles in maple syrup," by Simon Forest et al, was published May 5, 2020 in Analytical Methods.

DRDO Develops WiFi-Enabled UV Disinfection Tower For Sanitising Coronavirus-Prone Areas

 Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed an Ultra Violet (UV) disinfection tower for rapid and chemical free disinfection of high coronavirus infection prone areas

The Ultra Violet blaster is useful for high-tech surfaces like electronic equipment, computers and other gadgets in laboratories and offices that are not suitable for disinfection with chemical methods

“The product is also effective for areas with large flow of people such as airports, shopping malls, metros, hotels, factories and offices,” the DRDO said in a statement

The UV based area sanitiser may be used by remote operation through laptop or mobile phone using WiFi link.

“The equipment has six lamps each with 43 watts of UV-C power at 254 nm wavelength for 360 degree illumination,” a DRDO official said.

For a room of about 12×12 feet dimension, the disinfection time is about 10 minutes and 30 minutes for a 400 square feet area by positioning the equipment at different places within the room.

The Ultra Violet blaster is a UV based area sanitiser designed and developed by Laser Science & Technology Centre (LASTEC), the Delhi based premier laboratory of DRDO, with the help of New Age Instruments and Materials Private Limited, Gurugram.

This sanitiser switches off on accidental opening of room or human intervention. One more salient safety feature of the product is the key to arm operation.

IHCL exceeds 1 million meals offered to healthcare providers and migrant workers

Indian Hotels Company (IHCL) announced that it had crossed the milestone of over 1 million meals distributed to healthcare providers and migrant workers affected by the spread of COVID-19 in Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore, Coimbatore and Agra.

The initiative which began on March 23 has been spearheaded by the Taj Public Service Welfare Trust (TPSWT), with majority of the meals being prepared by its airline catering company TajSATS.

Puneet Chhatwal, MD and CEO at IHC  said the milestone of 1 million meals distributed over the last 36 days of lockdown is a testament of the community’s trust in the company.

"We are grateful to have been given this opportunity to assist the medical fraternity, who make sacrifices every day to keep our country and citizens safe and help migrant workers who are facing one of the biggest humanitarian crises ever."

Through its programme, IHCL has partnered with BMC in Mumbai to offer over 3,30,000 meals to the medical fraternity at seven key hospitals/COVID-19 centres. In Bangalore, the company has provided over 9,500 meals to staff at Victoria Hospital and Epidemic Diseases Hospital in partnership with the Taj West End. While in New Delhi, IHCL has served over 85,000 meals to eight hospitals.

Since March 31, 2020, in partnership with Tata Son's - TPSWT has also provided over 5,75,000 meals to migrant workers in Mumbai

Royal Orchid & Regenta Hotels are ready to welcome you back!

Vande Bharat Mission: Authorities seek hotel rooms across the country

India begins its biggest repatriation exercise to bring back 14,800 nationals stuck in 12 countries, the government is earmarking a range of hotel rooms across the spectrum, from one star properties to plush five-stars, for quarantining these travellers who will be landing in different cities
Hotels newly earmarked in Delhi include the Taj Palace Hotel, Shangri-La’s Eros Hotel and Le Meridien, according to people aware of the matter. Besides Taj Palace, the Indian Hotels Company Limited ..
(IHCL) has earmarked rooms in five of its hotels in Bengaluru for the exercise, including in Taj MG Road, Taj West End and the Vivanta hotel in Whitefield.

“We are glad to be able to offer support and care for our community,” said a Shangri-La spokesperson. “The hotel will accommodate some of these returning travellers as and when required. During this period, we will take all necessary precautions and strictly abide by the guidelines provided by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare,”.

“We have got 200 rooms. The Delhi government had approached us. As per the instructions that we have received, all the guests are supposed to pay for the rooms. The government is not footing the bill. In our case it’s Rs 4,000 for a single room and Rs 4,800 for a double room, inclusive of meals plus taxes,” said Tarun Thakral, Chief Operating Officer at Le Meridien. “I think they are giving options to arriving passengers to choose from hotel categories and rates.”
The Delhi government has reportedly allocated 1,200 rooms in Delhi and National Capital Region for the purpose.

The Hotel and Restaurant Association of Western India (HRAWI) said it has been in constant touch with the authorities in Maharashtra and has arranged more than 1,500 rooms at discounted rates in Mumbai across categories
At IBIS New Delhi Aerocity, there are 200 rooms which have been committed for the repatriation exercise
Lemon Tree Hotels said it has been approached by different state authorities on room availability and quotation in locations like Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Alleppey, Kochi, Amritsar and Lucknow.
Besides IHCL, hotel chains such as Lemon Tree, Accor and Radisson Hotels have been offering quarantining services for asymptomatic people during the lockdown.

GBTA Industry Forum Series: Interview with Patrick Pacious, President & CEO, Choice Hotels

Scott Solombrino, CEO, GBTA chats with Patrick Pacious, President and CEO of Choice Hotels as part of the GBTA Industry Forum Series. Patrick shares his experience working for a hotel company where 100% hotels are franchised, the challenges facing small business owners, their advocacy efforts and the government funding which has been introduced to support these businesses.

For more detail please visit on below link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-9h2PV-CaI#action=share